Dynamic EarthMST Inquiry Unit Katherine Vazquez

Priyanka Puri

OverviewThis six lesson unit was designed to foster

scientific critical thinking, mathematical skills and representation, and reading proficiency

An emphasis was placed on appealing to all learning styles, differentiating for 9 different Gardner’s Mis

Students were immersed in a comprehensive Earth Science Unit covering the water cycle, rocks and minerals, erosion, pollution and conservation

Lesson One: The Water CycleStudents watched online videos regarding all

elements of the water cycle: Precipitation, Condensation, and Evaporation

Students created a T chart to organize their knowledge and wrote about the role of the sun in their science journals

T CHART: Role of the Sun in the Water

Cycle During the process of the water cycle, the Sun provides thermal energy to the Earth's surface water which is the key to evaporation. The Sun heats bodies of water which then evaporates into the atmosphere becoming water vapor. The water vapor then condenses and cools, becoming precipitation before falling back to the Earth in the form of surface runoff, snow, hail etc.Without the Sun's thermal energy, the whole water cycle will cease to work.

Define Water Cycle List the terms that makes the water cycle and describe each one of them

When the water goes around and around.

EvaporationWater VaporCondensationPrecipitationCollection 

FOCUS ON KINESTHETICSStudents “rain danced” to a song about the

water cycle and wore clothing representative of their respective role: Sun, Rain, or water vapor

Lesson Two: Local Rocks/MineralsStudents created a Mathematical

Representation of class favorite rocks: PICTOGRAPH

But first they had to fill in a spreadsheet:

Students wrote a letter to a scientist about an unknown rock:  MANIPULATIVE SKILL: UNKNOWN OBJECTDear Professor Test Tube,  We have discovered a new rock on our playground. Right now,

the classification is unknown. It is deep red/orange in color and has dark black cracks. It is shiny and feels smooth to the touch. When placed in a container of water, it does not float. It is about the length of a broken crayon and the width of two pennies. It is not grainy, but hard in texture and will not break easily. Any help you and the lab can provide in identifying this rock would be greatly appreciated.

 Kind Regards, Johnny Labcoat

Lesson 3: Classifying Rocks!Students made GRAPHIC ORGANIZER!

Lesson 4: Erosion and ChangeMathematical Representation: students

represented rate of sediment loss on potato farm using LINE GRAPH

Lesson Five: Pollution and Adversity Focus on MUSIC! Student rap: Environmental Rhapsody   Up in the air the birds are chokin’ Down on the land the trees are smokin’ And the EPA just can’t seem to stop The coal plants from growin’   Hope I live to see the day when CO2 is reduced Yeah, we’ll keep fighting for the day clean energy’s produced Cuz the dreams alive we know the future can’t survive Till we stop BP from ruinin’ our lives   Our streams gotta get cleaner The toxins gotta go through the sweeper Grandma’s pills in my water? Cuz the government is lookin’ To do things cheaper!

Mathematical Representation of US Energy Consumption:PIE CHART

Petroleum37%

Natural Gas24%

Coal23%

Clean Energy7%

Nuclear9%

US Energy Consumption 2008

Lesson 6: ConservationStudents took part in an in-class recycling

activity and heard a phenomenal PODCAST (Web 2.0)!!!

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=2103&content_id=CNBP_027976&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=e89f3692-9610-446f-b79a-0d7fae8c87ed

In it, we learn scientists can use banana peels to clean dirty water!

Some of the quality Literature Used:

Link to Filimentality:http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listdyn

amicka.html

RATIONALE: This site provides a host of links for completion of scavenger hunt, added info on rocks and the environment, and educational games aimed at keeping our Dynamic Earth GREEN!